Greetings, total forum Noob here, trying to figure "bestest" OOT version, so please bare with me, I'm still trying to encompass the depth pf the forum here. Long time Star Wars fan, old school even. Saw and enjoyed "The People vs. George Lucas" on the weekend, and now I'm trying to find a good (if not best available) digital version to replace my 1995 VHS box set (the big black one). Anyhow, every Special Edition change come across like a slap in the face to me.
Okay...
Dr. Gonzo OOT or what? Which one is most original? Which one has best image quality? I can't afford to try them all just yet. I've watched some of Mr. Adywan's ANH revisited, and while the images can be superb, the SE changes still anooy me.
I'd start with DarkJedi's stabilized GOUT.
"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars
The more you can tell us about what changes you're aware of, how they affect your viewing experience, things you definitely don't want to see, etc. will affect which version we might suggest to you. Your 'No SE' clause will greatly reduce the numbers.
To get a head start, you can read general descriptions of many versions from this forums wiki:
http://originaltrilogy.com/fan-edits/fan-project-list.cfm
There's no easy answer to your question. Many people create the versions which satisfy their requirements, and sometimes they overlap with new people like yourself.
Also read OT.com's FAQ:
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Fan-edit-preservation-forum-rules-and-FAQ/forum/17/topic/5950/
Since your last positive viewing experience was the VHS release. Someone might have preserved those, but can't think of them off hand.
Heck, I still think it weird that they (gl) changed the name of "Star Wars" to "A New Hope" in 1981. I remember going "Hey! That's different!" back then.
So, a vote for DarkJedi's GOUT...
So, which preservation effort is closest to the 1977 theatrical release?
DarkJedi's GOUT is. It uses the 2006 DVDs (which use the 1977 pre-A New Hope crawl), makes them anamorphic 16:9, stabilizes the image, and does a little color and clean-up work, too. (This applies to the currently-available V1 and V2 sets, but the V3 set will look even nicer, as the cleanup script has been updated since the V2 release.)
On top of that, his V3 set (recently finished, soon-to-be-released) will contain the two 1977 35mm audio mixes (the stereo and mono mixes), a reconstruction of the 1977 70mm six-track mix in 5.1 surround, and both the 1985 and 1993 home video stereo remixes. (Empire and Jedi will contain their 1980 and 1983 theatrical stereo mixes, their 1993 home video stereo remixes, and 5.1 surround mixes that are essentially a hybrid of the two other mixes.) And it has theatrical-release-accurate subtitles for Greedo in Star Wars and Jabba in Jedi.
I think that you should start with the V3 GOUT. It certainly will be the most accurate release. However, if you have a heavy issue with DVNR, I would suggest Dark Jedi's V2 of the Japanese Special Collection (the "Bonus" set mentioned in the V3 thread). Lastly, if you want reconstructions (and don't mind crushed blacks shown in the 2004 DVDs), then I'd recommend OCPMovie's Star Wars: Classic Edition Reconstruction (can't think of any other one), Adywan's ESB Reconstruction, and Harmy's ROTJ Reconstruction.
DVNR - Digital Video Noise Reduction ? How does that manifest?
If "crushed blacks" means lots of darky & murky scenes, I rather not, thank you very much.
Well, I'd prefer the 1977 70mm print, but what the hey.
Okay, DJ's V3 GOUT. I have no idea whatsoever where that resides. But it gives me something to look for. Thanks for the advice.
Talking to people I've found it really depends on what kind of TV you have. (If you have netflix you can get try the 2006 dvd and see if its good enough for now. or buy it if you see it somewhere cheap enough)
<blockquote><p><strong>Baronlando</strong> said:</p><p>Talking to people I've found it really depends on what kind of TV you have. (If you have netflix you can get try the 2006 dvd and see if its good enough for now. or buy it if you see it somewhere cheap enough)</p></blockquote><p> </p>
Well, it's still a "real" TV (Trinitron). But higher res material (or even "upscaled" and then downscaled) looks fine on it to my eyes.
The DVNR on the 1993 laserdisc master (and, by extension, the GOUT) manifests mainly in heavy motion smearing. It may not be terribly noticeable to you, but to some it's very distracting.
Note that the Dark Jedi "Bonus" set mentioned previously would be the 1981 A New Hope version, though that (and the very first shot, since it's part of the same shot as the crawl) is the only difference content-wise between it and the original 1977 version.
And yeah, crushed blacks does mean loss of detail in dark areas, resulting in a "crunchier" image.
Finally, DJ's V3 GOUT isn't out just yet. He'll be releasing it quite soon, though - check out its thread for more information (I've linked you to the current page, as that will have the most up-to-date information).
Hmm, "motion smearing" may not be so bad, one of the annoying things I've noticed about the Special Edition (beyond terrible CGI acting) is the wonky depth of field, many things seem to have the wrong level of sharpness or focus, too many addons are in sharp focus, and things that were adjusted to get rid of the lovely 1970s in-camera effects now are blurry.
Hmm, I'll try avoid the edits with "crushed blacks".
Thanks, I've subscribed to that thread, and will observe (and wait it seems :) ).
If anything GL's odd mixture of insecurity & arrogance has forced many to *not* take for granted , um, many things about Star Wars ...
Addendum:
Do any of these preservation efforts still have the original 2-channel audio? Or have they all been upgraded to 2.1 and higher surround sound?
dudefromthenorth said:
Okay, DJ's V3 GOUT. I have no idea whatsoever where that resides. But it gives me something to look for. Thanks for the advice.
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/GOUT-V3-Star-Wars-Trilogy-Info/topic/10550/
dudefromthenorth said:
Addendum:
Do any of these preservation efforts still have the original 2-channel audio? Are have then been upgraded to 2.1 and higher surround sound?
Dark_Jedi's GOUT V.3 will have every sound mix made for each film. It's truly the one to get when it becomes available.
And 5.1 upmixes for each film, too, with Star Wars's being a recreation of the 1977 70mm surround mix!
Well, I hope I'm fortunate to experience DarkJedi's GOUT version someday. Finger crossed.
I believe he's begun sending out discs to certain people for a quality control check before uploading them, so it'll be available soon.
Almost there...